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20/07/2015

42 memories from when MSN was the only way to communicate

Teens these days won't understand the obsession we had in the noughties with MSN. It was the days before Facebook and Twitter ruled the world and before WhatsApp (most people didn't even have internet on their phones), iMessage and Snapchat.

We'd spend hours on end chatting to friends from our bedroom/dining room/living room and never, ever needed to go outside (except to ask if someone was coming on MSN!)

All you have to say is 'MSN' and those of us who grew up through its hey-day will feel all nostalgic. But it wasn't just MSN. We had Limewire, Bebo, MySpace, Piczo 'websites'... We were truly spoilt!

Here are some of my favourite MSN memories....

1. Including meaningful song lyrics in your display name so your crush knew you were into them.

2. 'Nat 'ere luvin ???' - making sure you used the exact number of question marks for your crush's name so they'd know it was them.

3. Appearing offline just so you could talk to one person.

4. Putting your finger over your webcam to pretend it was broken so you didn't have to 'go on cam'.

5. Constantly appearing online and offline and online again and wondering why the boy you fancied still wasn't talking to you.

End of conversation. 8. Seeing someone popular listening to a song and downloading it straight away on Limewire (n'aww, Limewire! The quickest way to give your computer a virus) so you could appear cool too.

9. Forgetting to turn off your 'see what I'm listening to' when you were enjoying a Disney hits session.

10. 'Nat and Soph 'Ere' - changing your display name to feature everyone you were with at that time.

11. Not putting your friend in your display name when she's sat right next to you because you're talking to her crush and she wants to see what he says about her.

12. Sending continuous nudges to someone until they replied.

13. Scanning who was online to see if it's worth appearing online or just staying working on your Piczo (omg Piczo!) 14. Having multiple 'addys' so you could see if someone had blocked you.

15. WrItInG yOuR dIsPlAy NaMe LiKe ThIs EvEn ThOuGh It ToOk TwIcE aS lOnG aNd LoOkEd WeIrD.

16. Taking someone out of your display name so they knew you were pissed off with them.

17. Similarly, adding someone to your display name so they knew they were definitely at Christmas present status.

18. Having to come off MSN because your mum wanted to make a phone call and you still had dial-up internet.

19. Spending all day with your friends at school then spending all night talking to them on MSN.

20. Copy and pasting your conversations to your friend so they could help you reply.

21. 'Who u luvin?'
'Can't say...' (aka you)

22. Sending abuse to SmarterChild when nobody else was talking.

23. The random person who was always online no matter what time of day or night.

24. The tense moment when you could see someone was typing and it feeling like an eternity until they stopped and pressed send. Then it just said 'k'.

25. Trying to use MSN at school (to talk to your friends three computers down) and having to log in to 'eBuddy for MSN Messenger'.

26. Getting a new computer and having to get your friends to send you all the emoticons.

27. Ɯяιтιηg уσυя ɗιѕραу ηαмє Ɩιкє тнιѕ 28. 'Will you go out with me?'
'No'
'Sorry, that was my friend!!!'
(There was never a friend!) 29. Waiting for hours on end for songs to send over MSN.

30. Over indulging on the WKDs and thinking it a good idea to go on cam to boys you fancied.

31. Having a cringy 'addy' which didn't contain your name and always getting your friends asking who you were after you'd added them. (nortynat77@hotmail.com was my first ever 'addy')

32. 'ASL?'

33. The 'winks' which would jump out whether you were on that person's conversation or not.

34. Working out that if you put a dash followed by lots of spaces at the start of your display name it meant you always appeared at the top of the contact list.

35. Putting someone's name in hearts in your display name was the equivalent of being 'Facebook official'.

36. Seeing your crush sign in but waiting 10 minutes before you talked to them so they didn't think you were a keen psycho.

37. 'BRB'

38. Staying up until the early hours because you were having such deep and meaningful conversations.